After receiving complaints about a new parking plan that would move handicapped parking for football games, FSU revised its plan to make parking more accesible. / Gerald Ensley/Tallahassee Democrat

Written by

Adrianna Vidal

Contributing Writer

They spoke and Florida State listened. After receiving numerous complaints about the newly revised parking plan for disabled patrons, FSU officials made the necessary changes.

Focusing solely on the parking situation during the 2014 football season, a letter was released May 19 highlighting a new parking format that would exclude the handicap spaces along the outside of Doak Campbell Stadium and the closed off Stadium Drive on the west side of the stadium.

This, however, did not go over well with the disabled patrons that would be dramatically affected by this new plan. These drivers would have to relocate to a parking garage roughly 300 feet away from the stadium, forcing them to rely on shuttles to get to the stadium.

Not only were they going to have to face the inconvenience of relocating their parking, but in addition, they would have to abide by a first come, first serve basis that would create discomfort and inconsistency compared to previous seasons.

The new plan would have created frustration for those who wanted to tailgate before games, limiting their availability to their friends and family. The parking garage these drivers would be relocated to has limited tailgating access, only allowing grilling on the top floor. In addition, without an assigned spot, there would be a scramble to find one another within the garage because their spaces could be drastically different game day to game day.

The discord between patrons and FSU was created by the abrupt announcement. Feeling as though their input was ignored and that the selection committee could have possibly miscommunicated disabled needs proved there needed to be a change.

Hearing the concerns, the FSU Office of Equal Opportunity and Compliance published a newly revised plan that they feel would be more accommodating. This new plan would bring back the 39 spots surrounding the perimeter of Doak Campbell Stadium while continuing to assign spaces within the parking garage.

The assignment process will revert back to the traditional process, although instead of assigning based on priority number, patrons will receive spaces based on need.Patrons will be able to request the parking spaces they wish to receive, including people who wish to tailgate. All requests will be taken into consideration and be assessed and assigned by late August.

This new format will eliminate first come, first served in the parking garage as well as in the application process.

Disabled fans will still have access to the shuttling services from the parking lot to the stadium that will have multiple drop-offs, though traditionally has only had one stop.

Although the parking spaces along Doak Campbell Stadium were regained, the Stadium Drive parking will continue to be eliminated. Traditionally this street is closed during the football games, but due to the lack of Americans with Disabilities Act, standards on this road and the heavy police traffic made this road possibly dangerous to the patrons that parked and tailgated there.

After the decision had been made to revise the plan, FSU officials took to calling the 220 disabled fans personally to explain the new changes to the parking plan. This form of communication allowed for a closer analysis of the individual needs of each family.

This upcoming season, FSU will be able to assign parking to up to 300 disabled vehicles per game.